Emergency tire-chain.



W. L. & J. PETERSON.

EMERGENCY TIRE CHAIN.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14. 1916.

Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

Wm. L Pe-ferson mum ttozy dames Peferson,

w W .m m

WILLI L. PETERSON JAMES PETERSON, 0F AUBURN, NEBRASKA.

EMERGENCY TIRE-CHAIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Get. $2, rare.

Application filed March 14, 1916. serial No. 84,071.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM L. PETER- SON and JAMES Pn'rnRsoN, both citizens of the United States, residing at Auburn, in the county of N emaha and State .of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Emergency Tire-Chains, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to removable antislipping devices for the wheels of motor vehicles, and particularly to detachable treadchains for use with pneumatic tires. It is the object of our invention to provide a simple, eflicient and inexpensive device for the above purpose, constructed so that it may be easily applied to the wheels and removed therefrom, and sothat when in use it will engage only the tire and will not touch or mar the wheel-rim or felly. A further object is to provide an attaching means for the chain, such that the same device may be used upon nearly any common size or style of pneumatic tire, and so that the chain may be securely held without causing injury to the tire.

v In the accompanying drawings Figure l.

. is a transverse section of a tire and wheelrim having applied thereto a device embodying our invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, Fig. 3 is a detail transverse sectional view showing the relation of the clamp-head to a straight-sided or Dunlop style of tire, Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a modified form of the clampbody, Fig. 5 is a detail side view of a part of the device, showing the snap-link, Fi 6 is a detail of one of the clamp-heads, an Fig.

7 is a similar view of a modified form of the same.

In carrying out our invention we rovide a clamp device comprising an approxlmately U-shaped body 1 having at the ends thereof integral flattened heads 2 which extend angularly inward, said heads being approximately triangular in form and lying in planes at right angles to the planeof the U- bend of the body 1. The edges 3 at the ends of the heads are substantially parallel with each other, and are rounded off at the ends 4 so as to present no sha angular ed es or corners. The clamp-b0 y is made 0 suitable resilient material such as spring-steel, and the body-portion 1 may be provided at its center with a coil or 100 Fig. 4, to increase the fiexibllity thereof.

The clamp-body is placed upon a wheel by 5, as shown in passing the same in around the felly A and rim B of the wheel, placing one of the heads 2 against the side of the inflated pneumatic tire C just above the bead 0 and with the edge 3 of the head adjoining the edge of the rim-flange, then springing the body 1 sufiiciently to enable the other head 2 to pass around the other side of the rim B as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4, so that the latter head will finally spring inward and rest against the tire in the same manner as the first. The heads 2 are so inclined to the end-portions of the body 1 that they will lie flat against the sides of the tire, and the clamp is so proportioned that the heads will press yieldingly inward upon the tire, sufliciently to retain the clamp in position thereon, but not enough to displace the beads c we employ a suitable chain 6 or such length as to pass loosely around the tread portion of the largest tire on which the device is to he used, extending from the bent neck-portion 7 of the clamp-body at one side to the like neck-portion at the other side of the tire.

The chain is preferably provided at one end with a snap-lmk 8 so that it may be readily attached to and detached from t neck 7, and, when used upon small tires, the efiective length of the chain may be reduced by connecting the snap-link with a link oth er gran the end-link of the chain, as'shown in In Fig. '2' there is shown a slightly modified form for the heads of the clamp-body. In this design the heads are not formed by flattening or s reading out of the material into a triangu ar shape, as are the heads 2 first described, but each head is made 1) first bending the material from the neck laterally as at 9, then returninfig a portion 10 parallel with the part 9, and nal y turmng the end 11 slightly outward. The mner side of the portion 10 thus corresponds with the edge 3 of the heads 2. p

In practice, any desired number of the devices may be applied to a wheel, but it 1s sufficient usually to em loy three or four of the chains on each of t e driving wheels of the vehicle. By having the chains somewhat loose as shown in Fig. 1, the places at which they will engage the tread of the tire will vary from time to time sufliciently to prevent undue Wear of the tire at any particular point, without there being, however, any change in the positions of the clamp-bodies. It has been found that clamps constructed in accordance with our invention Will remain fixedly in any position at which they may be placed upon the tire, not being moved circumferentially of the Wheel by the trac-,

tion of the chains, and not causing any. ap-

preciable or injurious wear upon the engaged parts of the tire. As the clamps do not touch any part of the wheel-felly or rim, except the extreme edge of the rim-flange, adjoining the tire, no wear or marring of the finish of said parts is caused by the use of the chains.

The ease with which the chain devices may asaaec In a tire chain device, a resilient U-shaped clamp-body having angularly inturned hook-like end portions with fiat triangular heads thereon, and a chain having its ends linked onto said hook-like portions of the clamp-body, the clamp-body being adapted to pass around the inner side of a wheelfelly and tire-rim, with the adjacent sides of the flat heads yieldingly engaging the sides of a pneumatic tire disposed upon said tirerim, the terminal edges of said heads engaging the peripheral edge of said rim and forming the sole contact between the clamp and any. part of the wheel, and the chain extending loosely over the tread portion of the tire.

WM. L. PETERSON, JAMES PETERSON. 

